Solsae Kingdom - Part 18
'Previous Chapter [Current Chapter: 18] Next Chapter Episode 1: Hotsprings Are For Sharing In the very centre of the castle lies a special place to Rex. A tranquil garden maintained splendidly by his servants, where Ginger Fruit are grown to ripened perfection, yellow-orange skins bulging with their sweet, and faintly spiced juices, the autumn foliage of the trees spread like a canopy of flames, providing a light shade; and thick, vibrant grass that grows so strong that even if a hoard of Minotaur charged through, it would still spring back to life. A pebblestone path of pure white leads from a large pair of marble double doors that one would imagine require ten men per door just to push ajar. The white path leads snakingly to a glistening pool in the centre of the inner sanctum where the light of the sun shines down so mysteriously intense, even against the densest clouds, that it's as though a permanent spotlight is trained on the garden itself. Or perhaps shining upon his majesty, sitting comfortably in the lapping crystal blue waves of the natural hot spring that this very castle is founded upon, his eyes closed in light meditation, his chest rising and falling from slow, deep breaths, his famous torch-like-do swaying gently in the breeze. When the stone doors started to creak and the tranquility of his bath was ruined, Rex’s golden eyes shot open. Ever so slowly, the doors parted. The thing holding them, one part man, one part woman, one part gorilla, dressed in a wine coloured over-the-knee servant’s dress, with the sleeves burst off from flexing and straining them too far, with biceps as big as the other servants bodies and a baboon-inspired half mask covering all its features save the beady black eyes and dry, chapped lips, was SilverBack - chief maid. Rex was so impressed with this servant’s strength and dedication that even he didn't dare to tell the man-monster to ditch the frills and look the part of the chief. “What is it, SilverBack?” Rex asked with a low growl. “Lord Rex, there is one who wishes to speak with you. She calls herself Siakunae Lakura of Aster Novus.” “I'm busy.” Rex answered without a thread of hesitation. “I think this one is worth the time. Appears to be alien - not unlike the rabbit under your employ,” SilverBack replied. Rex sighed. “Not another one… " After a brief pause, he grudgingly ordered the mountain of a maid servant to 'fetch it at once', and returned to his quiet meditation. “At once, Sir,” SilverBack growled, dropping the doors and striding off with thunderous steps. _________________________________________________________ It wasn't until the shifting of the water as the newcomer entered his hot spring that Rex stirred. No, rather than the sound, it was the change in temperature. Even a basilisk with its pit organs couldn't compete with his senses. He opened one sceptical eye to witness the woman, dressed in a wine-coloured, two-piece swimsuit that belonged to one of his servants, stepping into the water. She was impeccable. With perky, peach skin that practically glows under the sunlight, beautiful arms ending in elegant fingers, sublime curves and supple long legs. The way she carried herself was floaty like a cloud, with a silver lining of elegant grace. Her pleasant smile warms the soul, and her pretty pearl eyes shine like jewels. Rex perks up, his attention piqued by her silent yet brazen entrance. She clearly isn't from Solsae. He thought, certain that only an alien would forget their social norms in the presence of a man as splendorous and magnificent and mighty as he was. She looks him over once, then again, and tried to stifle a laugh. It doesn’t work. “Mmmph... Ehehehe~ Hahaha!” She laughs, her back arching, eyes tearing up. She breathes in and out, deeply, trying her best to stop the sudden burst of laughter but for a (very bewildering, for our esteemed king) moment, her face contorts with laughter. Finally, she composes herself. “I-I-I-I’m so sorry~!” She says as she wipes aside her tears and gasps for breath while wearing on her pink lips a wide smile that threatens to erupt into further laughs. “Just who the hell are you…” Rex questions, one flaming eyebrow raised, and at a complete loss for words from what just happened. “No, no I’m not weird, promise!” she giggles, apologising through her tears of laughter. “I'm... I'm sorry it's just when I saw your hair! You look like an Oni, from my world. Not the horny angry red skinned sort, you look just like a cute Oni doll, though! But then I got thinking, and well, well! Well!--” her laughs mangle what ever else she had to say, while Rex waits “patiently”, with his blood a boiling, his veins a bulging, his pupils dilated and his teeth gritted, waits for her to calm down, all the while internally questioning why they can't get any normal aliens. Finally, her laughter subsides and she drops with a splash into the water, opposite Rex. Her breath surfaces first in small bubbles, then she sploshes back up through the surface. “Alo~ha!” She greets with a brilliant smile. Rex takes a deep breath, collecting himself. “Welcome to my sanctuary,” he grumbles. Never before had he wanted to firebomb a woman in the face so badly. Siakunae stretches herself out as though to flaunt her curvaceous body. “I didn't know we would be skinny dipping~” she giggles. “Maybe I shouldn't have borrowed a bikini after all?” She teases, twirling the lace fastening with her fingers. Rex’s frustration reads on his face like an open book. Ignoring the busty seductress’s playful teasing, he growls through clenched teeth, “What brings you to my Kingdom?” Her eyes drift off as though in a dream. “This place is paradise… the feng shui is perrrr~fect... The garden is so tenderly cared for... It's so wondrous~! I can tell you care a lot about this place, but that's not all - I have never before felt water like this! So gushing with Maya, it's truly a thing of beauty… it's like the world itself loves you and cares for you like a sweet, doting wife eagerly tending to her husband's every need. And you love her back, too, I can tell.” She nods with a cat-like smile. “Humph...” Rex just scowls. “Rex~ you don't need to play coy. I just know that you're a loving king! Why else would the people follow you so blindly? I have spoken to people who like you and people who don't, but none of them hate you.” Siakunae chirps cheerfully. “Think what you will. You and the people too. If they did have a problem with my rule, they could haul their arses to the endless desert,” he growls again. Siakunae giggles in response, “Well, I thinks that you’re a beauuuu~tiful person, Rex~!” The two sat in silence for a while, Rex stewing in frustration, Siakunae giggling and bobbing and eventually falling silent.The pink-haired girl seemed to have nodded off and was drooling while snoring lightly. Rex wasn't sure what to make of this. She seemed to operate at her own pace, not distracted by or concerned about anything. He had gotten so used to the arse lickers trying to gain political clout by buttering him up, and the little bitches so scared to speak their minds from fear of his scorching wrath, that her optimism and openness were a strange change of pace. One that he didn't exactly mind right now. Rex sinks back, his eyes lingering on the corals and blues of the evening sky. He pondered deep how best to solve the problem of Abyss, letting the girl rest. He would be at full power before long and then he would set out to find some way - any way, to deal with his brothers corruption. Abruptly, Siakunae gave a massive yawn, stretching again. “That felt dreee~amy!” she said more to herself than her benefactor. “What was that?” He asks in reference to her abrupt power nap. She has no idea what he is asking about, and shrugs it off. “Hehe… You know, I actually saw you guys talking about imprisoning that bad guy.” She admits with a giggle. Trailing off, she extends an arm to the blackening sky, pointed towards the glittering stars that ice all of space. Rex traced her finger to a single light in particular. It glowed with a violet hue and moved like a ship through the void. “That is our… My home,” she confides. “You come a long way,” he replies. “Yes. I think that I might be trapped here for now, but that's not important. Here’s hoping you don't mind the intrusion.” “Not at all.” He answers honestly. He had no reason to turn her away now. She turns her gaze back to the shooting star. “It's a place called Aster Novus. There are loooo~ads of worlds in the Maya,” she says. “Yeah? Have you visited any of them?” “No, not really. Actually Aster Novus is in orbit with Terraia. You could say that you and I are symbiotic like a vampire and a loft. We needed each other~!” “Is that so?” Rex says affirmatively in spite of the bizarre analogy. “So what brings you here?” He asks. “Well! I am glad you asked!” She chirps, “for as you see… I may be a bit of a snowflake, but even she has a reason to make her voyage! Much like any detective or researcher or scholar worth her salt, it is curiosity that drives me~” she giggles again, flashing a peace sign with her fingers. “See, on Aster, they insist that Terraia is a barren and desolate world with no life other than monsters and bacteria and such. They say that the air is irradiated and the water is toxic and it could never sustain life.” “Sounds pretty right to me,” Rex quips. “No, they put it so plainly that Terraia is sinister, ‘When the end times come… Aster will be embroiled in a terrible war, not with internal enemies, but with the emissaries of Heldeth, let free screeching from the land of carnage,’ Is how they put it in the texts.” “Hahaha! Why would I attack one little spinning rock?” “You’re right. It’s silly. Government propaganda to bolster their forces and extend their influence. But people believe it… Even the sceptical can’t shake the feeling of ‘what if it's all real?’” “What do you think?” Rex asks plainly. Siakunae ponders and then answers, “I really don't know enough about this place. But, why would you attack my home… why would you indeed…” Rex shrugs, smirking, “Things are changing here though. Bit by bit. Something… happened recently.” He recalls to her how abyss’s rolling ball of black fire devoured the green sky, and he recalled how Amami, the First Wing of Solsae, put her life on the line for his city, and prevented Abyss from bringing the death and destruction he so desired. “The smog that choked my Solsae has been devoured. The last act of heroism of a corrupt man.” Eyes all a glitter, fists balled, huffing excited breaths, Siakunae is awed at just how one man, on a technological black hole world like Solsae no less, could perform feats that her own people couldn't even dream of. It must absolutely be because of the Maya. “Do you think that I could learn to use Maya too?” She asks Rex almost pleadingly. Rex, having it just come naturally to him, shrugs. “Far as I’m aware, everybody is born with aptitude,” he explains. “Hey hey, you know… one of the reasons I wished so much to come here to Solsae is because I think that people on Aster Novus actually descended from here.” The wonder in her words is spoken like only a child might, full of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. Her brazen theory might sound very ‘out there’ for the people of the times, but proof of her belief was in the honest way she spoke. “What could make you think that?” The king asks, leaning forward slightly. “I have studied the vast and profound cosmos since I was tiny! - and grampy Aruderon, too, was a cosmologist…or was he a blacksmith? Well, the stars run in our blood! He thinks that I am a real space cake though~” She giggles and then clambers closer to Rex, so close that they are almost butting heads. Her eyes meet his, and his hers, and she continues. “The history books of Aster Novus only go back about 100 years... Curiously, 119 years ago, we would have been at the closest ever to Terraia. So close you could build a bridge! A really big bridge! Also, I think that the rate the smog suffocating your world had been clearing suggests that something terrible happened exaaaa~ctly… 120 years ago.” “Huh… interesting”, Rex interjects, “So the people of Aster Novus fled into space before the catastrophe that created the green sky that ushered in the Dark Era…” “Yes! You think so too? How jubilant!” She squeaked with utmost joy as Rex continues his train of thought, “I hear say that Tekkon discovered an ancient technology within the ruins - one that exceeds Solsae's collective knowledge.” “So do you think it could be connected to my people then?” Siakunae suggests. Rex nods. “Please, Rex…would you help me unravel the mysteries of our worlds? The lies of Aster, the ruin of Terraia, and the multitude of secrets that this cosmos houses! I truely think that with your help, we can do it!” she grabs his hands pleadingly in hers, her eyes sparkling with desire. “For me…this is life's mission!” “You're free to stay at the castle if that's what you're asking,” he responds. “Oh, happy days! I’ll make it worth your time too! Promise!” “You will, will you?” He asks rhetorically. “Yup! I'll make myself very useful. Why, I can even help solve your housing problem!” Rex raises an eyebrow in confusion. “You know! For that dark fellow. The one who was all roasted!” “Roasted…Abyss? You mean you know how we can stop his powers coming back, right?” “Correcto-mundo!” She affirms. “How?” He asks. She flashes a victory sign with her fingers, a huge grin spread across her features. “Why, it's elementary, my dear Voltson! We take him to my world. To where there is no Maya to invoke his powers.” It sounded far-fetched, but…actually, it was a very clever idea. Her world had no Maya therefore Abyss would be powerless there. The perfect prison. “You sure?” He asks. Siakunae nods eagerly. Rex sighs, but his mind is made up with resolute determination. “Then let's get it done.” 'Previous Chapter [Current Chapter: 18] Next Chapter''